Location: 153 W King St, Hillsborough, NC 27278 Capacity: On request from the venue Type: Historic Boutique Hotel Website: colonialinn-nc.com
The building went up in 1838 in one of North Carolina's most historic towns, and it has been standing on the same corner since. It sat through years of neglect and years of care, different owners, different fortunes, and came through with its frame intact: oak beams still carry the ax marks of the hands that hewed them, handmade nails are still driven into the walls of the bar, and the beams meet in scarf joints on the second-story porch that show how the building was put together. No one knows the full history of the structure.
A restoration completed in 2020 turned the building into a 28-room boutique hotel with a bar and an indoor and outdoor events program built around it.
The Event Space
The indoor room converts between ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception, and couples choose how the day moves through it: ceremony inside with cocktails outdoors and dinner back in, ceremony outdoors with everything else inside, or the whole day contained in the one room with a change of scene between courses. Rental seating runs to sixteen 8-foot rectangular tables that seat 10 apiece and four 6-foot tables that seat 8. The rental includes 75 diamond-cutback chairs finished in a natural wood tone, with more available to rent to match. A bridal parlor is available for hair, makeup, and dressing ahead of the ceremony, and the ground floor of the original structure, along with the limited outdoor space, is wheelchair accessible.
Spencer's Tavern
The inn's bar serves cocktails built around Hillsborough ingredients alongside local beer, wine, and spirits, in a room where the walls still hold their original handmade nails. It gives a wedding weekend a place to land after the reception ends, without anyone leaving the building.
The Boutique Hotel
The rooms sit above the event space. One suite occupies its own wing with a private entrance off the second-story porch. Booking both a ceremony and a rehearsal here comes with a two-night stay in that suite. The couple stays in the suite overnight, and the inn's other rooms are available to book for the rest of the wedding party.
What We Design Here
The rooms here already have their material: dark, hand-worked wood, brick, ax-marked beams, and window light that has been filtering through old glass since 1838. Floral work in this building sits best in weighted, old-finish vessels of pewter, aged brass or ceramic, in arrangements with clear structure and open space, so the hand-worked wood stays in view.
Warm, earthbound tones read as an extension of the building; anything cool or bright reads as an interruption. On the porch, where the light is open and the joinery is on display, work can loosen and thin out, work can loosen and thin out so the joinery shows through.
Practical
The inn sits a tenth of a mile from the center of downtown Hillsborough, among its restaurants, shops, and galleries, and about a 30-minute drive from Raleigh-Durham International Airport by way of I-40. Public parking in town is free, with on-street spaces nearby and a parking deck a short walk from the front door. The inn's events team handles availability and planning directly.
Hidden Door Floral Studio is a Raleigh wedding florist designing for weddings across Raleigh, the Triangle and North Carolina, and happy to travel beyond. To talk about your wedding at The Colonial Inn, schedule a consultation.
Planning a wedding or event here? See our wedding and event flowers.